


The Gold turns Red

by VenomQuill



Series: Undertale AU Misc. [3]
Category: Undertale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dusttale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Storyshift (Undertale), Dustshift, Gen, Judgment Hall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 11:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20723795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenomQuill/pseuds/VenomQuill
Summary: Papyrus was beheaded in the Ruins 327 times.Asriel was cut down 327 times.Toriel died from her own determination 327 times.Undyne's cyborg body broke 327 times.Chara was killed 327 times.Sans was shredded by pellets 327 times.Boogie was cut into a paste 327 times.Metta took Frisk's SOUL 327 times.Frisk mindlessly goes through another genocide, only this time... it's different. Dust has piled in places Frisk has not even been yet. Frisk surveyed the land with irises pink as party decorations only to find that everyone she encountered has fallen... all but one last human with eyes scarlet as blood and pale skin made paler from monster dust.





	The Gold turns Red

**Author's Note:**

> Find it on dA: http://fav.me/ddgnx6x

_Thump… thump… thump… thump…_

Footsteps, though quiet, resounded through the silent hall like a battle cry. A long shadow fell over the stone path. The young teen stopped at the end of the hallway, hovering between the elevator that would take her back to the empty house of the king and the empty entryway into a familiar gold and brown tile floor.

The figure walked into the hallway. A golden glimmer sparkled before her. Her hand passed through it. A feeling of warmth trickled into her cold heart. It was gone as soon as it came.

She walked the familiar path through the hallway.

Her footsteps ended as a figure melted from the shadows of a pillar. The green-hooded one stared at Frisk with bright red eyes. A wide, maniac grin bared too many teeth in the light. “Greetings, murderer.”

Frisk stood up straight. This fight had been difficult, at first. But as she’d long since memorized the human’s moves, this battle could be quick.

…though, did she want that? A longer battle might be more interesting.

“Nice to be back isn’t it?” she prompted, her voice eerily calm.

Frisk’s eyebrows contracted. Why was she so _calm?_ Yes, Chara was normally laid back, and when frustrated or angry, she was cold and analytical. But the monster they crossed paths with thrice now was anything _but_ calm. She was a mess of emotion, the LOVE that burdened her SOUL only making her snapped mind worse. But what happened to calm her down?

“Guess what, pretty mirror?” Chara went on in a soft voice bordering a coo. “Do you know what’s different now? Go on. Guess.”

“You’re nuts,” Frisk stated flatly.

“True,” Chara said with a small nod, her creepy gaze never leaving Frisk’s. “But as I’ve told you many, many times. I am a human with enough determination to change the fate of the Underground. To go back in time and change events or fix mistakes.”

Frisk rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and I have more determination than you. You told me this.”

Chara shook her head slowly. “Not anymore, pretty mirror. I’ve gained enough LOVE, and starved you of enough EXP, to become just as determined as you. I will kill you. Then, I will RESET, and get rid of you _forever._”

Frisk’s skeptical, bore look fell. _“That… that can’t be true. Metta?”_

_“Darling, she’s just trying to scare you. Kill her already.”_

Frisk took a deep breath and smirked. “Right. Let’s make this quick, shall we?”

Chara shrugged. “As you wish.” She chuckled. “But I better warn you… if you think I’ll go easy on you because you were my ‘friend,’ don’t count on it.” Chara hesitated and turned her head a little, her gaze moving past Frisk as if looking at something in the shadows beside her. “Just wait, Rei. I’ll make this quick.”

_“Chara Dreemurr: Attack 145, Defense 113, HP 92, LOVE 19. Determined.”_

Frisk cocked her head and leaned forward. Chara’s gaze was focused on the wall. Frisk started to speak when she spotted Chara whip out her dagger. Frisk jumped back with a shout, narrowly missing a hit. As she moved back, the ground cracked, and a vine peppered with blood red thorns slithered out of the ground. The tendril wrapped around Frisk’s midsection and yanked her up.

_“Frisk Fairbairne. Attack 37, Defense 26, HP 44, LOVE 7. Determined.”_

Frisk tore the chainsaw from her backpack and turned around enough to saw off the plant tendril. She was dropped just in time to miss a spray of seeds from a flower. The cut vine dissipated as it hit the ground, but the injured specimen regrew. This time, flower stalks tipped with buttercups bloomed from the vine. Frisk struck again, just managing to split the skin on the vine and dodge before it could slash at her. The buttercup she ran into shivered and then burst in a spray of small, sharp seeds.

Frisk stumbled away and swung her weapon again, chopping off the offending flower. It landed on the ground with one last spasm before falling still. Frisk turned around to face Chara again. But the plants dissipated and Chara was left staring at Frisk again, both hands in her hoodie. Frisk could still see the pointed outline of the knife in her hand.

Frisk stole a glance around. Just like their other battles with Chara, vines had unraveled and now twisted around the pillars and coated the ground. Flowers bloomed, setting the green alive with reds and yellows.

_“Frisk!”_ she heard Metta snap. _“Hold yourself together! This is your grandest stage, don’t choke!”_

Frisk nodded and took a deep breath. “Fine.” Frisk lunged at Chara, chainsaw roaring bloody murder.

Chara simply sidestepped the attack. Though the teeth of the blade ripped Chara’s sleeve and tore her arm, she hardly flinched. “Hit me all you want,” Chara invited with a weird laugh and a wide grin. “I’m stronger than you. So, don’t count on your victory.”

She attacked. The vines around Frisk reared and struck. The tendrils wrapped around her ankles, slowing her down as flowers spat seeds at her from every direction. Although she tore through a few, for each vine she cut, two more took their place. The ones that were cut regrew almost instantly.

“I’m going to miss this,” Chara reminisced as the vines let go. “The fight. The battle of good versus evil.” The human chuckled. “Rather, the battle of the villain and demon, where the scoundrel gets her throat sliced by thorny plants.”

Frisk scowled and went back on the attack. The vines did not grab at her ankles again, but the thorny tendrils did snap like thin, thorny whips, forcing Frisk to constantly move. The second she stopped, one wrapped tight around her throat, each thorn digging into her olive skin like tiny knives. She heard a cold laugh as Frisk struggled with the steadily tightening plant. Finally, she was able to reach around and hack it off with a chainsaw. The vine retreated, allowing Frisk to untangle the vine tip still wrapped around her throat and throw it away.

Frisk gasped and held a hand to her bleeding chest. _HP 1/44._ She started to reach for her sandwich, the Legendary Hero, but hesitated. These attacks were _easy, _she was just surprised. If Frisk could go back, maybe she would get through without getting hurt!

LOAD FAILED

Frisk froze, her eyes going round.

Chara’s grin widened and her eyes gleamed in mischief. “I was not lying. Like it? The moment you die, I get your ability to RESET.”

_“Just eat the damn sandwich and keep fighting.”_

Frisk scarfed down the food. Tastes like… mutton. HP fully restored!

The four vines reared up again. Frisk moved constantly, staying hyper aware of her surroundings to keep from getting throttled by a plant again.

“I’ve been fighting for a long time,” Chara admitted, her voice growing a little quiet. “I wonder what it will feel like to win?”

_“Kinda anticlimactic, probably,”_ Frisk thought.

Vines wrapped around Frisk’s ankles and slithered up her legs and midsection until she was firmly stuck in place. A thorny vine reared up and then snapped. Frisk held out her chainsaw so the flat of the blade face forward. The vine tried to coil around it but got shredded instead. Another reared up behind her and a third to the side. Frisk had to constantly move and turn and block to keep from getting torn to shreds.

“It’s funny,” Chara said with another weird noise that resembled a laugh. The vines retreated from Frisk. “I gave up _everything._ My friends, my parents, my brother, _me._ I gave it all up, just for you, pretty mirror. Under any other circumstance, that would have sounded romantic. Hah!”

Four thorny vines whipped out. Frisk moved, jumping and running from side to side to keep herself from being impaled. Chara grimaced as her side was bloodied by the chainsaw, even after attempting a dodge.

“Do you remember the singing flowers and blooming birds?” Chara asked. She hesitated and then laughed uproariously. Frisk cringed, the noise somehow putting her further on edge. Hearing that joke the _first_ time, when Frisk wasn’t so morbidly curious about killing everyone, she had laughed, too. “I… Heh. I wonder what happened to them, haha.”

Small vines grabbed at Frisk’s ankles again. She managed to dodge most of the attacks, but the vines on her feet distracted her and slowed her down drastically. Frisk wrapped a hand around her stomach. Blood from holes in her flesh oozed over her fingers. She looked up at Chara, who stared right back. Had she even blinked this entire time? Frisk’s eyes were drawn down. Vines wreathed around Chara’s ankles, brushing up against her hoodie. Flowers bloomed from the gentle, light vines.

_“You have magic?” Past-Frisk asked, her eyes going round._

_Past-Chara nodded, though she had hunched her shoulders a little and kept her hands in her coat pockets. “Yes. You see… I was chased away from the humans. I’ve never really told anyone why, but…” Her rosy cheeks darkened as a redness warmed her pale features. “I… heh. You’re from the surface, too, aren’t you?”_

_Frisk nodded. “Yeah! Yeah. But I didn’t think humans had magic.”_

_“Neither did I. The people in my village called me a witch because of it. I just barely managed to escape getting burned at the stake.” Chara wrinkled her nose, the faint flush leaving her._

_Frisk puffed, “Come on, whoever those people were, they were stupid. What kind of magic could _you_ do that’s weird?”_

_Chara hesitated and then held out her hand. The tile beneath her shifted and popped up. Vines slithered up her leg and over her jacket and coiled around her arm. The tip of the vine, resting on her palm, swelled and bloomed, revealing a large buttercup._

_“Whoa…” Frisk whispered, stepping closer and running her finger over the lush petals. “That’s so cool… Can you do that to other plants?”_

_Chara nodded and pinched the bottom of the flower with her other hand. The vine retreated into the ground, leaving the flower grasped in her hand. She set it in Frisk’s hair and stepped back. Her smile widened into a genuine grin. “You look nice.”_

_Now it was Frisk’s turn to turn a funny shade a red. She hid her face in her hands. “Oh my _God_, Chara!”_

Suddenly, the coldness in her heart cracked. Oh no… what was she d–?!

_“Concentrate!”_ Metta barked. _“Strike her! Strike the last actress on the stage and end this performance! You’re too far to go back, now, darling.”_

Without thinking, Frisk raised her chainsaw and tore down.

_JZZZZZZZEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRSSSSHHHHH!_

Frisk jolted as the chainsaw vibrated fiercely in her hands. She drew back. Before her was a wall of thick vines that had been utterly destroyed. The front of Chara’s hoodie had been sliced open. Blood leaked down her chest from the shallow wound. Chara’s eyes narrowed. “Just give up, Frisk. We both know how this is going to end.” Her dagger glinted in the light as her hand flashed out.

Frisk yelled as another vine grabbed her around the midsection and tossed her high in the air. She flailed her arms and grabbed onto the nearest thing she could–a thick plant stalk. No, a sunflower stalk. She looked around. Ivy vines wreathed around a few tall, surprisingly sturdy sunflowers like a spiderweb. Below her, the vines on the ground writhed and tangled. Feet long thorns bristled from every inch of available space.

Frisk’s hands slipped.

The girl gasped and grabbed onto the ivy plant. It snapped beneath her weight. She grabbed onto the sunflower. It bowed. The sunflower’s head turned and shot an array of seeds. Frisk swung onto the next sunflower, narrowly missing the bombardment. The next ivy vine she grabbed stayed intact for a few seconds longer than the first. But she was still forced to move.

The thorns beneath Frisk slid back into the vines and the plants relaxed and stopped moving. Frisk yelled as the sunflower snapped and she fell to the ground, _hard._

Frisk couldn’t help a groan of pain as she pushed herself up. She dug into her bag and brought out the still cold snowman piece. She shivered in the cold that it brought, but it was gone soon enough, and she was no longer in pain.

Frisk pushed herself to her feet and struck again. Chara grimaced and stepped away. The chainsaw cut deep into her left arm. Still, she continued smiling. “I can feel it,” Chara said. “Your determination is slipping. Soon, you will die once and for all. Then, my world will be restored. Do you hear that Rei?” She looked to the side. Nothing was there, of course. “I’ll get you back. I’ll see you soon enough.”

The four vines appeared again. This time, large flowers bloomed along their stems. As the vines whipped toward Frisk, seeds would burst from the flowers, forcing Frisk to dip and dodge and concentrate on even more things.

Finally, the vines retreated. Blind from pain and frustration and panic, Frisk swung. A strangled scream came in answer.

Frisk jumped and her eyes flashed open. Chara sat before her, arms wrapped around a deep wound that split open her stomach. Her breaths wheezed and she coughed as blood bubbled up in her throat and spilled over. She looked up at Frisk, her watery eyes glistening in pain, but her bloodied teeth bared in a maniac grin. “Y-you hit me. You hurt me. You won.” She shook her head and let out a noise that sounded like a laugh, though it could have been a sob. Then, she retched, forcing Frisk to move back. Eventually, Chara spat and heaved and sat up a bit straighter. Her whole body shook in the expended energy. Tears ran down her smudged, sweat-dappled cheeks. “I killed so many monsters. I gained so much LOVE. And I _still_ underestimated you.”

Chara removed one hand from her abdomen to push herself up. Frisk set a dusty hand to her mouth, trying not to gag at the sight of her ragged, shredded flesh and skin mixed with drenched cloth. “You won. Good job. You got me,” Chara choked out. She shook her head. “But do you know what the greatest part is?” Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll remember this. I’ll remember everything you’ve done. Then, I’ll be ready. I… I might even get to kill Mom, next time. Next time you reset.” She coughed up another few ounces of blood. The plants around her had retreated a little more, so though the pillars around them were covered in vines, the ground was nothing but torn up tiles. A few flowery vines watered by her blood and vomit still stroked her legs.

Frisk shut her eyes and lowered her hand. Despite everything… she still smiled… she still hated. She really was unbreakable, huh? Frisk’s pupils gained a pinkish tint. Suddenly, any warmth or compassion in her heart was smothered. She sneered right back at Chara.

Chara’s eyes narrowed. “What is… what is that look for? I can remember you! I can… remember…” Her eyes became unfocused. “I… I cannot remember…” She gulped and shut her eyes. “This has happened before, has it not? I snapped and killed everyone. I killed my own _family._ All to get back at you.” Chara hesitated. “Frisk… tell me one thing…” Chara opened her eyes into slits. She looked up at Frisk with dull, pained eyes. Her maniac grin had faded quite a bit but did not vanish entirely. “Is this the first time…?”

_“Yes.”_

_“Darling, she doesn’t _deserve_ to know that,”_ Metta purred. Frisk’s eyes glinted pink. She raised her weapon and tore down. Then, as Metta let go, Frisk dropped her weapon and looked away. The bloody figure slumped to the ground. Heaving, gurgling breaths still bubbled out of the girl’s shredded throat. Her body instinctually spasmed, grasping onto any hope for life. But her wide scarlet eyes stared at nothing. The plants around her slithered out of the ground and blooming buttercups curled around her dusty, bloody, vomit-smeared body.

Unlike monsters, who died as soon as their HP reached zero, no matter the cause, humans were a little more resilient. The stomach wound was fatal but would take time. The newer wound, running from her throat down to her hip, shredding skin and flesh and bone alike, was fatal. In fact, there was no amount of magic or quick thinking that would heal such a wound. So, Frisk watched as her struggling grew weaker and weaker. What would take her first? The lack of oxygen going into her lungs, or the lack of blood to fuel her heart and brain? Funnily enough, the buttercups that bloomed from the vines that slowly encased her gave off little green sparkles, as if the plants had minds of their own and were attempting to summon healing bullets.

…

_Frisk Fairbairne. Attack 63, Defense 29, HP 99, LV 20. Determined._

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo Dustshift! Woo-hoo! I'm a horrible person!
> 
> This is the most graphic thing I've ever written in my _life._ And it's for a _fan-fiction._ Don't worry. I have big plans for a murder mystery that may or may not involve such tomfoolery. <s>just wait a few years, lol</s>
> 
> At first, I was just bored of Dusttale's premise of Chara taking over Frisk because they're _evil_ and want all monsters to _die_ and their only love is _power_ and yada, yada, yada. However, after killing everything 327 times, maybe they have gotten a bit twisted. But in Storyshift, they've only killed everyone once (that they're aware of) and the amount of LOVE and violence they've been part of is just... all the greater. So, after rationalizing it out, I thought it was an interesting concept. I dunno why I chose Storyshift. I think there was a reason a while ago, though. lol
> 
> Oh, and why do so many people forget Chara has plant abilities? It's the coolest thing since sliced bread!
> 
> Also, I legit tried gender-neutral but it was SO DIFFICULT AND CONFUSING. Though, if you want to see confusing, check out my [SusieRune fanfic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16706929) because shameless advertising.


End file.
